Stallone Reveals How His Long-Running Feud with Schwarzenegger Finally Ended — Politics Changed Everything

Sylvester Stallone has revealed that his decades-long rivalry with Arnold Schwarzenegger came to an end only after 20 years, when the Terminator star decided to turn his attention to politics.

“It only ended after about 20 years,” the 80-year-old actor said on the Rest Is Entertainment podcast.

According to the Tulsa King star, their feud was so intense that he and Schwarzenegger, now 79, could not even appear on stage together to give a speech or present something to an audience. The tension persisted even when the two actors were co-owners of the Planet Hollywood restaurant chain.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Stallone and Schwarzenegger were among Hollywood’s biggest action stars. Stallone rose to fame with the Rocky and Rambo franchises, while Schwarzenegger became an icon through films such as The Terminator, Predator and Commando.

Stallone described their rivalry as “hostile” and admitted that the battle for dominance in the action genre played out both on screen and off.

“It was a real rivalry, believe me. I loved getting under his skin. The more I annoyed him, the harder he tried to outdo me in his next action movie — making it bigger and louder, with more action, spectacular set pieces and impressive locations. And that’s how we kept raising the bar,” the actor recalled.

The tension was so intense, he said, that they could not even agree to star together in a film proposed by the late director John Hughes. Stallone and Schwarzenegger were supposed to play neighbors.

The turning point came in the early 2000s, when Schwarzenegger shifted his focus from movies to politics and announced his candidacy for governor of California. Stallone realized he no longer saw his fellow actor as a rival.

“I said to myself, ‘Enough. We’re not competing anymore.’ He wasn’t making movies,” Stallone recalled.

A chance encounter with Schwarzenegger in a store helped him fully come to terms with the change. Stallone thanked his former rival for keeping him on his toes and constantly pushing him to do better. According to the actor, Schwarzenegger felt the same way.

After making peace, the former rivals went on to appear together in several films, including The Expendables 2 (2012) and The Expendables 3 (2014), as well as Escape Plan (2013).

Today, Stallone considers Schwarzenegger a friend, although he admits that their competitive spirit has never completely disappeared.

“We’ll always compete — it’s just in our nature, and I really enjoy that. But we’re no longer competing financially. That’s long behind us,” he said.

Stallone believes that a rivalry like theirs — between two actors working in the same genre and constantly trying to outdo each other both on screen and off — is unlikely to happen again.